Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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274. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Dublin Region Homeless Executive has not been issuing Leap cards to homeless families since October 2018 and has no junior Leap cards available; if families will be reimbursed for travel expenses during this period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4462/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Arising from an action in Rebuilding Ireland, my Department is funding an initiative to provide homeless families residing in hotel accommodation and family hubs in the Dublin Region with access to free public transport for essential school journeys.

The Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) is overseeing the implementation of this initiative and, working in partnership with the National Transport Authority, has put arrangements in place for the provision of Leap cards to homeless families. Given that Leap cards have an inbuilt value-limit, the cards are being made available to homeless families on an on-going basis throughout the academic year, via Family Homelessness Action Teams.

The DRHE has informed my Department that the National Transport Authority recently experienced a technical difficulty in registering Leap cards, resulting in a slight delay in their distribution. This issue has been resolved and Leap cards have now been received by the DRHE for distribution.